Amour Vert

Often when we think of innovation in fashion, we think of cutting-edge designs, cool new pop-ups or unexpected collabs. But what about upending the conventional clothing supply chain? It’s rife with energy inefficiencies, pollution issues and even human rights concerns. It’s a serious drain on the environment—from thread production right down to garment manufacturing and distribution. As Earth Day approaches, now’s as good a time as any to discover creative clothing companies that are challenging the unsustainable status quo. Enter Amour Vert.

Amour Vert—French for “green love”—was founded by the wife-husband team of Linda Balti and Cristoph Frehsee, who met in 2007 at a defense industry conference in Abu Dhabi. Cristoph, who’d just sold his landmine-clearing company, convinced Linda, an engineer working on fighter-jet simulators, to take a leap of faith: quit her job in France and backpack around the world. “And at that time we were not engaged. We were just dating,” says Linda. “I was like, ‘That’s a bit crazy, but let’s do it.'”